Horgan laments lost points as Dundalk eye Bray bounce-back

Dundalk FC captain Daryl Horgan lamented two points lost after The Lilywhites squandered a 2-0 lead against Treaty United, settling for a 2-2 stalemate at Oriel Park.

The draw against the Limerick side keeps Dundalk at the top of the SSE Airtricity League First Division table, with 10 points from a possible 12 in their opening four games.

However, a resolute Horgan is eager to steer his team back to winning form when they take on Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds this Friday night (kick-off: 7.45pm).

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“I would’ve taken 12, but we’ve got 10, and now we need to go again for the next three,” he defiantly told The Democrat. “It’s three at a time. Now, all that matters is Bray because those two points are gone. We’ve lost them, and now all that matters is the three points against Bray.

“We need to score more goals. We’re creating so many chances, so we need to score more. We need to have games dead and buried so that you don’t have these last few minutes of chaos—it just can’t happen. Even when you are 2-0 up, it still can’t happen, and it shouldn’t happen, but it has, and now we need to react to that.

“It’s massively frustrating for everybody in there—really, really tough, but there’s nothing you can do about it now bar learn from it, and that’s the next step. Young players are going to learn.

“Do you think we were going to go all season without getting a punch on the nose? No chance. That’s naive and that’s arrogant. It was always going to happen, so we need to now react to this and be better for it rather than drop because of it.

“That’s when you have your biggest learnings, unfortunately, when you have your bad days at the office and the feeling after of how it feels, and how upsetting it is because you want to be as good as you can every game, and unfortunately, that’s just not the case.”

The last time Dundalk suffered defeat against Bray at the Carlisle Grounds was in 2016, when Horgan scored for The Lilywhites, but was also shown a red card in a 2-1 loss.

In contrast, it was the Galwegian who netted the decisive goal in their most recent encounter at the same venue, securing a 1-0 victory for Dundalk in the FAI Cup in 2023.

Bray, who only missed out on Premier Division promotion last season after a playoff defeat to Drogheda United, have continued their strong form into the current campaign.

With a game in hand, they currently sit just four points behind table-toppers Dundalk.

“They’ve started pretty well,” warned Horgan. “It’s a young, hungry division with a lot of talented players, and every team has big strengths. We feel that when we’re at it and we’re good enough, we should be able to compete with everybody. I’m sure every other team thinks the same. We need to be the best team in this league, and we need to be the team that’s winning every game. That’s what we ought to be doing.

“It was never going to be easy. None of this is going to be as easy as everyone was hoping. It was always going to be difficult; there was always going to be tough times. It’s about trying to stay level—not too high in the good times and not too disappointed in the bad times.”